As the technological capacity for organizations to create, track, and retain information continues to grow, a variety of different technologies for managing and storing the rising tide of information have been developed. Secure and reliable data storage is one such technology that helps satisfy the need to maintain this collected information. In order to implement secure and reliable storage, large numbers of a variety of different storage devices may need to be maintained for use in data storage systems. Maintenance of these storage devices, however, may prove onerous as specific technical expertise may be required to diagnose and repair failing storage devices and expensive equipment may be necessary to securely dispose of non-repairable storage devices.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.